Viper
by DarkShadowRin
Summary: As with these sorts of stories, someone dies somehow and reincarnates into someone troublesome. Shame she wouldn't realize the last part of this trope way, way into the future yet.
1. Chapter 1

There was no pause, no stretch of time in between.

At least, no _perception_ over the stretch of time in between. Maybe nothing her mortal mind could comprehend

She died and then just as suddenly she was... not. Dead, that was  
_

Tracing a finger over the books lining the shelf (-_soundnoisebuzzquietmurmurshere'ssomething about historyandhere'saboutpleating-_), she paused by one that she knew hadn't been there the last time she dropped by (_-goldsilveramuletonyxbeautyallure-_).

Which was just one of the many things dispersed through the flat that she was aware hadn't been present the last time she visited.

"Where did you get this one?"

"Hm?" she heard George poke his head through the door, "Oh, that? Some governor in the north east I think, why?"

"I'm just a bit surprised that you're interested in jewellery making."

"I'm not. Bella put it there. I gave it to her but she left it and said she'd just pick it up next time."

So that's why he didn't just sell it somewhere.

Viper smiled mockingly, "Giving her a book? My, you're getting serious."

"Shut it brat. Do you want ham or bacon?"

"I'll take the bacon. And why? I'm just saying. You're not usually one to give anyone anything and yet this girl here gets a whole book." She glided to the sofa, having visited enough that she didn't even need the use of Mist Flames to compensate for her inability to see.

"Don't talk to me about romance when you're not even legal yet yourself."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

He spluttered, "It's just- not right, talking to some eight year old about my love life."

She wasn't eight. She was fifteen.

"Oh trust me. Your love life won't be the most _adult thing _I've ever heard." She smirked.

Blind as a bat as she was, she could _feel _the look he was giving her.

"_Anyways, _how's life working for you?" change subject, huh.

She shrugged, "It could hit rock bottom and it'd still be loads better than yours."

She cocked her head to the left and the spoon he threw at her made home in the wall behind her.

"I'm serious brat. You didn't show for months and now you're here like nothing happened."

The gravity -the hurt- in his voice had her stiffen in surprise, shoulders slack and her hands falling to her sides, glancing a touch on the sofa.

(-_worried, horror, nights of sitting and waiting, pacing, thoughts churning, worse than the last scenario, sistersistersister_-)

...yeah, she could hear how upset he was alright.

"..Oh. Um. That was..."

The depth of his emotions kind of but not really stunned and touched her. What she was trying to say was, it wasn't surprising that he felt this way. But also that neither would it have surprised her if he didn't.

They'd known each other since she was six. That said, the nature of their relationship was never... determined between them.

He was standing somewhere to her right, a whole meal (short of a spoon) on a tray in his hands.

Viper shrugged, uncomfortable, "Some yakuza problems and that Gererro guy too..."

A beat, then, "_Sky _problems, you mean."

Her grimace was probably enough of a confirmation.

Yes. She was having _Sky _problems.

The prime problem of any notable freelancers.

"That's unsurprising. Though kind of ironic that it's some small time yakuza and a police officer that gets you to stay away for a whole seven months, when not even a year ago you practically just waved off the Vongola."

He set her share in front of her, purposefully clanking the dishes loudly so that she wouldn't have to paw around to search for it.

"Certain things had me... hesitating."

"Oh?"

She scowled at him beneath her cowl, "The Sky was a kid so I can't just kill him."

"You can actually." He reminded her.

"Yeah, well I _won't._"

Viper was mean most of the time, she'd stolen, murdered, and a lot of other things. But there were lines she _refused _to cross.

George clicked his tongue at her but this was an old issue between them anyways and she didn't get more than a, "Careful Viper, that might get you killed one day."

"And what's with the Gererro guy?"

Oh, this was going to be awkward. Nope, she's still trying to come to terms with it herself, she was not going to discuss this with George especially just after teasing him about Bella.

He could be especially vindictive sometimes.

"It was just the combination of the two that got me stuck, mostly." She said breezily, shoving a bacon in her mouth.

He hummed.

"I'm going to make a visit on Mafia Land, wanna come with?"

"Sure."


	2. Chapter 2

As one would expect, dying had made an impact on her.

It was the crisis that had her world view thrown askew, never to be the same again. A realization.

She wanted to be happy.

Oh, of course, everyone wanted that and really who doesn't know that everyone wants to be happy. It's just the natural inclination of a person. Joy, in many forms.

And living a life as an upstanding citizen did make her happy. But that didn't mean that being an upstanding citizen was what she wanted.

She wanted a cool expensive custom boots with the insides lined in soft textile. She wanted to travel the world and hear what the greatest relics of history wanted to impart by persevering through decades of rust and worn -the stories and hopes left in each chip and break. She liked petting dogs but didn't want to take care of one so she'd just borrow some neighbour's.

She wanted to kill that man because she was feeling angry at the abuse he served to his son.

She'd stopped searching for justifications for her actions other than that it would please her.

Basically, death rid her of her inhibitions.

So desire and the lack of any reticence eventually (_somehow_, because even she wasn't entirely clear on how exactly things went down) led her to be on the wrong side of the law and one of the most renowned person in the Underworld at the ripe old age of fifteen.

An underworld that have rainbow coloured-apparently- flames, regularly interacted with supernatural/mythological beings and creatures, have technology decades and centuries ahead of their time, have _customs, _and _traditions, _and _bleedin laws, _and they had _bleedin mafia school and mafia police _and she used to have mini freak outs in her earlier years because _she feels so cheated, __the movies never showed any of these!_

They also have a floating, mobile, piece of supposedly neutral island that also doubled as an amusement park and vacation spot daytime but was a sort of one giant mercenary guild underneath.

"Got anything Viper?"

Viper hummed and waited for him to reach her. She offered the papers to him, a layer of Mist Flames washing over them, "Do you mind?"

He took it and a rustle of papers later, he inhaled sharply.

"Who?"

He chuckled, "Ohoho, another big name again Viper."

She shrugged. Of course it would be another big name. _She _was a big name. Getting ahold of her would require getting behind a long, _long,_ queue, or having the right connections and enough money to shove your way up front.

"I don't take as much jobs as I used to, it's kind of a necessity now to rake big money in one gos."

If she wanted to continue with her rather lavish lifestyle that was. And she did.

"A necessity you don't seem to have a problem surpassing it seems. The guy's Rodrigo Sinclair. Needs an Esper."

Viper mentally cross-referenced him.

"Rumor has it that he's a Sun."

"Flame-active?"

Which consists of about only two percent of the entire mafia population. Being one instantly brought with it esteem and distinction. A big deal.

She hummed. "Though no one's actually seen it in action apparently."

"The guy's a hit man. If he's half as good as he's said to be, then I would see why. You gonna take it?"

"Of course. Now go file it."

"Kid, I'm not your butler."

She quirked her lips slightly, snapping her fingers, "Then you should be."

"Why should I?"

Because he's the only person she could trust herself to.

"You'll still be doing the same things anyways, at least as a butler you have a right to ask me for money."

"... huh. You're right."  
_

"I'm off now."

Viper left George behind in his Mafia Land flat. Because she'd almost missed a job with the infamous hit man if she'd put off visiting Mafia Land even by one day.

Out of all the Flames, Mist was the least intense. You could even say it was the most diluted and you technically wouldn't be wrong. But in exchange for that, it was the most malleable.

And Viper had a _lot _of it.

Enough that it was actually a literal threat to her life.

Anyways. Think of it as water. And her surroundings was the container. She would release a controlled amount and as Flames were a part of its wielder -with varying degrees of intimacy- she would feel it shape itself against surfaces. Like an echolocation but not, because she didn't need it to bounce back.

It had taken her years to figure out the perfect dose to avoid blasting everything away ala Carrie telekinesis -which was so cool by the way- and how to layer it thin enough that it wouldn't alarm anyone around her -cue kidnapping/recruitment attempts- and even trickier was figuring out how to actually use it as it was supposed to be used.

Do you know how problematic and vexing it was to aspire to be an illusionist when you're_ blind_?


End file.
